GitHub Survey: Open Source Is Popular, Plagued by Poor Docs and Rude People

By Application Development Trends

June 16, 2017

Open source development's popularity is tempered by poor documentation and provocation, mainly rudeness, among developers, according to a new GitHub survey.

The poll pointed to the pervasiveness of incomplete or outdated documentation in the open source community, as well as the overriding importance of an open source license in many developers' decisions to use or contribute to projects.

In addition, GitHub says the support of inclusivity is a key benefit of documentation, while about 25 percent of the community lack high proficiency in reading and writing English.

GitHub also estimated that 18% of respondents personally experienced a negative interaction with another user, and 50% witnessed one between other people. GitHub found such interactions can tangibly impact open source projects by discouraging continued developer contribution.

The survey also found that although open source software is used worldwide, its contributors don't yet reflect its broad audience.

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